The topic of rational suicide is often approached with some trepidation by mental health professionals. Suicide prevention strategies are more likely to be seen as the domain of psychiatry and a wealth of psychiatric literature is devoted to identifying and managing suicide risk. Whether or not suicide can be deemed permissible is ostensibly linked to discussions of autonomy and mental capacity, and UK legislation directs that a patient's wishes must be respected with regard to treatment refusal where decisional capacity is intact. In the context of the care and treatment of those with physical disorders, extreme and untreatable physical suffering is likely to be accepted as rational grounds for suicide, where the person possesses cognitive coherence and an ability to realistically appreciate the consequences of his or her actions. In the case of those with serious mental disorder, the grounds for accepting that suicide is rational are however less clear-cut. Serious mental illness is typically conceived of as a coercive pressure which prevents rational deliberation and as such, the suicides of those with serious mental illness are considered to be substantially non-voluntary acts arising from constitutive irrationality. Therefore, where an appropriate clinician judges that a person with serious mental disorder is non-autonomous, suicide prevention is likely to be thought legally and morally justified. There are arguably, two questionable assumptions in the position that psychiatry adopts: Firstly, that psychogenic pain is in some way less real than physical pain and secondly, that mental illness invariably means that a desire to die is irrational and inauthentic. If it can be shown that some people with serious mental illness can be rational with regard to suicide and that psychological pain is of equal significance as physical suffering, then it may be possible to conclude that some persons with serious mental illness should not by definition be excluded from the class of those for whom rational suicide may be a coherent choice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23838292
And you are saying in your Medical opinion that it's wrong? [TABLE="class: valign-fix"] [TR] [TD][h=1]Jeanette Linda Hewitt[/h][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Doctorate in Nursing Science [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Associate Professor [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Swansea University · College of Human and Health Sciences [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] She must be wrong then eh?
[h=3]Publications[/h] Hewitt, J. (2013). Why are people with mental illness excluded from the rational suicide debate?. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2013.06.006 Hewitt, J. (2012). Investigating eating disorders in elite gymnasts: Conceptual, ethical and methodological issues. European Journal of Sport Science,, 1-9. doi:10.1080/17461391.2012.728632 Edwards, S. & Hewitt, J. (2011). Can supervising self-harm be part of ethical nursing practice?. Nursing Ethics, 18(1), 79-87. doi:10.1177/0969733010386166 Hewitt, J. (2010). Schizophrenia, mental capacity, and rational suicide. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 31(1), 63-77. doi:10.1007/s11017-010-9137-x Hewitt, J. (2010). Rational suicide: philosophical perspectives on schizophrenia. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 13(1), 25-31. doi:10.1007/s11019-009-9183-1
[h=3]Dr Jeanette Linda Hewitt Supervision[/h] [h=3]'An evaluation of the National Action Plan to reduce suicide and self harm in Wales 2009-2014 in respect of young people aged sixteen to twenty five' (current)[/h]Student name: Royston Mayo PhD Other supervisor: Dr Michael Coffey Other supervisor: Dr Deborah Fitzsimmons [h=3]''Care: An Analysis'' (current)[/h]Student name: Roxanna Lynch PhD Other supervisor: Professor Steven Edwards [h=3]Exploring participants' talk about mental health nursing in the context of service user involvement (current)[/h]Student name: Julia Terry PhD Other supervisor: Dr Michael Coffey [h=3]Health Information Privacy Policy and Practice in Oman: A Health Information Management Perspective (current)[/h]Student name: Salim Al Salmi PhD Other supervisor: Dr David Rea [h=3]External Responsibilities [/h] [h=4]Board Member, European Association of Centres of Clinical Ethics[/h]2011 - Present [h=4]Editorial Board, Ethics and Social Welfare[/h]2011 - Present [h=3]Research Groups [/h] [h=4]MHRNC[/h]Established in 2006, the Mental Health Research Network Cymru (MHRN-C) is an all Wales network funded by the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research. Please click the link for more information.
Suicide is ALWAYS cowardice. Face your demons and engage the help of family, friends, and professionals. They want to help. Or, string yerself up and let those you leave behind deal with it. No ifs, no buts, suicide is the ultimate selfish act.
Nah, if there is one thing you certainly have ownership over it's your own life. You should be free to do what you want with it, and all you moralising ****s can **** off and mind your own business.
You should kill yourself just to prove that point. It would both confirm your argument and leave you free from any comebacks...
Bullshit. Your life is as much the ownership of your family and loved ones as it is yours. If that's not the case, go kill yerself.
Nothing is black and white. I struggle with this one as I can see both points of view. We will never understand the brain and the complexities it engenders both mentally and physically. I am on the fence on this one.
